Thursday, April 30, 2015

I have tended to lean towards long hair but on occasions I just want it gone. All I do it tie it back or wash and go that means it is messy and frizzy when it is longer but today I made an impromptu stop at the hair salon and said I want it shorter but feminine. As it happens my hairstylist had similar hair to me and had it in a style that I liked so she was more than capable of taking this task on.

Changing your hair is a big deal, it can change the way you look and my, oh my, have I ever had bad hair cuts but taking the leap of faith that the style you want will look just fine is worth the plunge. Besides when my hair is tied back my hair looks like the above so I may as well chop the pony tail off.

So what is in a hair cut? For me, going short is a kind of liberation, a time for change, I am paving a new future and I am ready to move forward even if no one else is. So here it is, it may not be considered sexy, feminine to have short hair but I am not seeking approval this is not about you it is about me and what I want and that is what it comes down to, seeking your own approval, believing it is right for you. Besides, hair grows back and I am looking forward to that part too.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Do you think about what you are putting on your body and what happens to it once you wash it off? Maybe it is time to think about what you are doing and think about where your money is going. Vegan and organic make-up brands are priced well and is an excellent alternative to your daily face-paint. There are plenty of non-harmful soaps and shampoos around as well as deodorants. If you like to dye your hair try and find a salon that uses green products, there are a few.

Here are a few questions for you:

Do you put make-up on everyday, the kind that stars on the TV the brands that the A-lister's wear or even the cheaper drug store brands?

Do you wear deodorants, shampoo and condition your hair?

What about moisturizing your skin daily?

Love those lip balms and lipsticks?

Who doesn't like a bubbly bubble bath?

Like to smell beautiful wearing perfume?

Love to dye your hair?

We all have to brush our teeth and wash our hands but what do you use and do you pay attention to what is in it?

We all do these things, some do it more than most and others less so. But are you brand aware more so than health aware? Do you care? If not you should care, it is your health that could be affected.

Beauty products can hide those blemishes, make you smell nice and so on but have you ever thought that there may be an underlying problem, say, your diet? Your diet can change the way your skin, hair and nails look and feel plus the added bonus, the way you smell. I will go more into that at a later date.

First off lets look at the things you don't want to see in your beauty products.

BHA and BHT

Coal tar dyes that say P-Phenylenediamine. Yes, it is meant to blind you with science and hard-to-say words. Most people will glance over it not thinking twice.

Parabens

Parfum

PEG

Petrolatum

Sodium Laureth Sulfates and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

Cyclomethicone and siloxanes

DEA, MEA and TEA

Dibutyl Phthalate

Formeldehyde

Triclosan

Not only do these products have the potential to do harm, like improve your chances of cancer, some of these products interfere with hormone balance, they can include heavy metals but there are ecological affects too. You wash a lot of these products off in the shower or bath, it goes into the water and touches wildlife and fish. Do you really want to eat fish that has swallowed beautiful smelly bubbles, it says on the bottle not to swallow it!

This is a very basic overview but there is a lot of information out there and here are a few resources to get more detailed info:

www.DavidSuzuki.org (the dirty dozen as listed above) and www.ewg.org it has gone mobile so you can look-up your beauty products to see what is in them and decide if you really want them on your body.

Monday, March 9, 2015

I finally decided to end my subscription with Ipsy. Why? Like I have said before, I don't wear a lot of make-up therefore I don't need a lot of beauty products and finally because I am shocked by how many chemicals are added to lipsticks, blusher, mascara, face-masks and so-called natural products. I do not want to have thousands of chemicals on me nor in me.

Added to my need to reduce the amount of toxins entering into my own body I have two beautiful girls who look up to me and I need to set an example. My limited beauty regime has sparked an interest with one of my girls, after all, the packaging is pretty and eye-shadows and lipsticks come in an array of beautiful colours. . Every little girl wants to be like her mum (at least at the beginning).

Initially, the reason for not encouraging my girls make-up habit started off as not wanting them to think about the way they look and how others see them. But there is more to it I needed to take a serious look at what was being put into the cosmetics I placed upon my body and theirs.

I thought purchasing Lush products would be a good start, nice smelling bath bubbles, shampoo and a lip balm. Little did I know that these products are not all as they seem. Yes they are hand-made, use fresh ingredients, against animal cruelty and use less packaging, they never claim they are fully natural nor organic, however this is not to say that they are harmful or at least there are few harmful ingredients making them a better choice than most. Body Shop is similar to Lush, all good causes; not testing on animals, less packaging and so on.

This one horrifies me. You know those micro-beads that exfoliate the skin and have also been put into toothpastes? They are made of plastic! Not only are they going onto your skin to clear dead cells they are going into the water supply and are having damaging ecological effects. I had no idea. What next?

If you love your beauty products you must watch this video, presented by Heather White. What she discusses is frightening and women are being blasted with toxins more than men, you will see why when you watch it. She is one of the reasons why I have decided to rethink my beauty purchases.

If this video does not change your mind about what you put on your body (and your child(s)) I am not sure what will.

So in search of natural and organic where possible I went onto the internet. It is actually very difficult because the search-engine is dominated by the well known beauty companies paying the large amounts of money to be listed highly on the internet but sifting through it all I did find some.

Companies.Saje, Canadian owned. Natural remedies for headaches, colds and other ailments. They produce soaps, deodorants, skin products etc. They do not do make-up,Rocky Mountain Soap Co. Canadian co. Similar to Lush in its range of products but they claim to be toxin free and their products smell amazing.Gabriele Cosmetic are gluten free and organic, can be found at Pomme Natural store.Eminence ; started in Hungary in 1958. Handmade organic skincare products that I have yet to try but I can't wait to get my hands on it.Logona Cosmetics UK has a large selection of products and may have to have them shipped to me.

Interesting articles worth reading.
Dangerous Beauty posted on Joyous Blog, written by Kate McDonald Walker talks about the history of beauty products and just how dangerous they were and are.
The Guardian, a UK publication writes about Phthalates are everywhere. This is a really good read.

Apps.
I don't use many apps but this one looks like a winner.
A useful app by Think Dirty. Scan the bar code to see an easy to read ingredients list and if there is a better less harmful comparison that will be suggested to you.
If you know of any good apps I would love to hear them.

I hope this helps you to rethink your beauty rituals and help you to make better more informed decisions. It is not easy, I know, but some of the diseases we see in the western world are preventable by changing our habits.

My apathy with my make-up and not plastering cosmetics onto my body has been a blessing.

A sneak peak for my Ipsy bag this month. There are some nice items here. the brush is an added bonus with the blush too, I do like my blusher. As for the other items, I sit on the borderline until I see them in action,

There is a strong pink theme going on here I have to assume because it is nearly Valentine's.

Who is Ipsy and what is it?
You sign up for a monthly Ipsy beauty bag that is delivered to your door. You will receive a number of sample items and a full sized product, usually totaling to five. You can customize your preferences, depending on what you like and what style you are looking for and you can change it each month should you so choose.
If you live in the Stated it costs $10 per month add postage for those, like myself, living in Canada.

Friday, January 30, 2015

January's Ipsy glam bag was a nice surprise. The products I received were better than expected and other than the eyeliner I have have used them all. The lipstick is lovely and I really liked the Eco-Beauty moisturizer I used it after every skiing day, it was nice and light, non-greasy on my face.

The Pacifica eye shadow acts as a nice highlighter.

All in all I really liked the products this month.

Here is the sneak peak post for this glam bag to get more information on the products.

I like the Hey Honey exfoliating mask. I need one therefore I am looking forward to getting this.

La Fresh Eco-Beauty moisturizer. I use Lush products mostly to moisturize or argon oil so we shall see how this fairs. It sounds like it will be perfect for my skin type.

Pacifica eye shadow. If it is natural then I am all for it but I can't say I am super excited.

Velvet 59 lipgloss. Not again, another lipgloss. Oh well! The problem with glosses is they don't stick for long as soon as you drink something you need to reapply.

I deliberately saved the liquid eyeliner for last from Coastal Scents, my eyes are small and dark in colour which creates even smaller eyes when applying eyeliner. This one may be a gift to someone who wears it but most of my friends tend not to wear a lot of makeup. OK, I may give it ago but I am not hopeful.